


The Casual (Not) Sharing of Body Heat

by Rellanka



Series: A Year Of Cloudy Skies [51]
Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Bad Flirting, M/M, Not So Oblivious Cloud Strife, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:28:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24746851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rellanka/pseuds/Rellanka
Summary: Genesis, Zack and Cloud are stuck in a broken down car in below-zero temperatures. Oh no, whatever shall they do?
Relationships: Genesis Rhapsodos/Cloud Strife, Zack Fair/Cloud Strife, Zack Fair/Genesis Rhapsodos/Cloud Strife
Series: A Year Of Cloudy Skies [51]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1697269
Comments: 5
Kudos: 162





	The Casual (Not) Sharing of Body Heat

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the prompt [here](https://otpprompts.tumblr.com/post/182771574974/a-b-and-c-are-driving-in-a-car-at-night-in-winter).

When the trip had first been proposed to him, Cloud definitely had his reservations. Sure, he cared for both Genesis and Zack and considered them close friends, but not enough to jump at the chance to go off on a roadtrip with two of the most easily irritable and endlessly cheerful (respectively) drama queens he knew. 

They both had had to take weeks talking him into it he was so unsure, in fact. But eventually he’d given in to Zack’s earnest pleading and Genesis’s more subtle attempts at manipulating him into it.   
And he was happy to say that it had actually gone pretty well, so far. 

There had been the expected bickering, of course, easily soothed by giving the most offended party individual attention after the spats got a little heated. There had been the endless attempts of seduction, which Cloud had planned for and was secretly beginning to find amusement in thwarting. There had been the occasional outburst of true temper, fueled usually by truly hurt feelings, which required deeper talks and more time spent with the upset party, but which similarly resolved themselves with little issue in the long run. 

Really, Cloud had been having a lot of fun, a surprising amount of it considering the absolute chaos he had been expecting. 

But that all led them to here, with the car that they had been travelling in starting to splutter as they were two thirds of the way to the point where they’d trade their car for more snow-worthy vehicles to get to the Icicle Inn. 

Even as Cloud sent fruitless prayers to every deity he knew that the car would last just a little bit longer, it spluttered again and finally died. Cloud frowned down at the dashboard in front of him in abject betrayal before becoming aware of movement beside and behind him. 

He turned his gaze to Genesis in the passenger seat, and then to Zack behind him. Both of whom were quickly removing clothing. 

“…What the hell are you two doing?” Cloud asked, exasperatedly deadpan. His ‘about-to-suffer-through-a-seduction-attempt-by-his-friends’ senses were tingling again. Where those idiots _really_ about to start something _here?_

Apparently so.

The two smiled back at him, completely without shame and likely about to be completely without fingers and toes. 

“Getting naked, of course!” Zack chirped cheerily, “Don’t you know that shared body heat is the best way to survive freezing temperatures, Cloud?”

Cloud was silent for a long, leading moment while he waited for one of them to start showing some common sense without much true hope that they would.

“…Genesis has a fire materia.” he finally pointed out dryly.

Genesis rummaged around his discarded coat before finally coming free with a glowing red orb. Rolling down the window with a cheerful sort of manic energy, he lobbed the orb out. Almost as if spellbound, Cloud’s eyes tracked its path as it flew farther, farther, farther, gone. Smirking at the space where it had disappeared, Genesis rolled up the window.

“Left it at home, terribly sorry.” A cattishly smiling Genesis said while staring directly into Cloud’s eyes.

“Wow.” Cloud said, for a lot of reasons, really. (These two had really given up on being subtle, hadn’t they?) “I really didn’t realize you were that self-destructive, Genesis. I’ll really miss your hands, and feet. Maybe even your face. I mean, it’s about to get _really_ cold, and you’re basically a hothouse flower, aren’t you?” Cloud cocked his head to the side and stared at Genesis with playful consideration, only just barely choking back laughter at the **looks** on his and Zack’s faces. 

It was at times like this that he really wished that he’d agreed to wear the spy camera that Tseng had tried to push upon him when learning of who he was going off on a trip with. He’d become friends with the man due to both Zack and then Aerith, and the Turk could be surprisingly protective of those he cared about, especially those he viewed as innocent or pure. (Cloud had no idea how he’d wound up on that list, but he had.) Having the camera to capture all of these hilarious moments and immortalizing them would have been nice. Cloud was really regretting rejecting it as too much of an overprotective gesture. 

He was privately wondering if Tseng had bugged him anyway, and what he would have to do to get the footage, when his musings where cut short by the fact that Genesis and Zack were now shivering, and beginning to look pretty regretful for the removed clothing. 

Genesis hadn’t bothered to answer his question, Cloud noticed. (Were they beginning to catch on that he was far less oblivious than he appeared?)

But whether they realized it or not, he might as well save these idiots before they really did start losing extremities faster than Soldier healing could make up for. 

Shaking his head, Cloud opened his door- ignoring the twin yelps from behind him as he stepped out and the cold air rushed in- Cloud said loudly to be heard through the now closed door and the two’s chattering teeth, “I have a lot of experience working on cars with my Ma, I’m sure that this will be a pretty easy fix.” After all, Genesis and Zack could be idiots sometimes, but he seriously doubted that they would go very far in tampering with the car when they knew they were going to be heading towards below zero temperatures. 

As he worked on getting the car back into running order, Cloud wondered if he should let them know that he planned on finally joining them in their bed only when they made it back home. 

No, probably not. Their pouting was really cute, and besides, there were still some sights that Cloud wanted to check out on the way back. 

After all, Cloud’s mama didn’t raise no fool. 

If he was going to turn himself ass-up on their beds, you better be damn sure he was going to make them work for it first. 

And work they would. 

Cloud was gonna make his momma proud.


End file.
